5 Things You Need To Know About The Wireless Network

WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity, and it is the term that is used by most people today to define the wireless network that they use in their electronic devices. But do you know how WiFi works?

It is the network that is used to connect to the internet without any LAN cable since it uses the radio waves that are broadcasted at certain frequencies. As for WiFi, the frequencies used are 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Since the operation of this network doesn’t require LAN (Local Area Network) cable, it is also called the WLAN or wireless LAN connection.

Just like any radio waves, such as the regular AM and FM radio waves, WiFi works by using a certain frequency to send and receive signals. The 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies are used to convert and transmit the regular bits (0 and 1 signals) into images, videos, web pages, and other things that are requested by the users. To understand more about how WiFi works, here are 5 things that you need to know about this wireless network:

1. The WiFi Transfer Speed

Unlike the regular AM and FM radio frequencies that are used for transferring audio data, the frequencies of the wireless local area network are used to transfer various types of data. The data might include audio, video, HTML pages, documents, and the like. These are the data that you see on your desktop or mobile device’s screen.

There are different transfer speeds that you can expect from your WiFi hardware, such as routers or mobile devices. The transfer speed is determined by how fast the device can transmit data over the WiFi network per second. Thus, the unit used for the wireless network transfer speed is Mbit/second. This is the unit to measure how much data the wireless network device can send and receive per second.

2. There Are Many Channels In A Wireless Network Frequency

There are currently 2 frequencies used by the WiFi network to transmit data over the air. The 2.4GHz frequency is used by most WiFi devices that are available today, which is the frequency used since the beginning of the wireless network technology. This frequency contains 14 channels that can be used to transmit data from one place to another over WiFi.

The 5GHz frequency, on the other hand, is the upgraded frequency for the wireless network that is implemented by most modern or newer WiFi devices. This frequency offers 23 channels for data transmission.

Despite offering both 14 and 23 channels for these 2 frequencies, the policy in determining how many channels used in each frequency is decided by each country that utilizes the WiFi network connectivity. Usually, the country will have an agreement with the ISP (Internet Service Provider) in deciding how many channels that are used for each frequency.

The more channels used in a wireless network frequency, the smoother the data transmissions will be.

3. WiFi Signal Booster

Just like any radio wave frequency, such as radio, TV, or cell phone, the better the signal that you receive, the better the quality of the data transmission that you get.

In the case of radio, the better signal means better and clearer sound quality for you.

For TV, the better signal means the better pictures and sounds that you receive from a particular channel.

For the cell phone, the better signal means the better reception for voice calls, text messages, and other cell phone-related services.

The WiFi network also has the same principle. The better the signal that you receive, the better and faster the data transmission that you get, meaning the faster you can access the content on the internet.

WiFi signal booster is available as the extended device or add-on that is placed on your current WiFi router with the purpose to improve the signal reception for your WiFi device.

If your area only receives a weak WiFi signal transmission from the ISP or cellular service provider, then this tool can help you to optimize the signal reception and make it possible for you to have a better WiFi signal reception for faster uploading and downloading of data over the internet.

The WiFi network connection can also reach a certain place or area. It is like the radio frequencies of AM and FM that can only reach a certain area. It means that it will only be available for devices that can be in the range for such a frequency.

Usually, in the case of radio FM transmission, you can only receive the broadcast from the radio stations in your town. You can’t use the FM transmission to listen to radio broadcasts from other cities or towns.

The range of WiFi connection is also the same, only that it is shorter than the regular radio transmission range.

Once you set a WiFi router at home, for example, it might only be available around your home. People from across the street can’t reach your WiFi network due to the limit of the range that the wireless network can reach. This is why there is a device called WiFi range extender, which is essentially the device or add-on that is placed in your home or office to extend the service range of your WiFi network.

However, the additional range that is provided by this device is also limited.

5. WiFi Devices For Home

Since we are living in an interconnected world, where the Internet of Things (IoT) is trying to connect as many devices in one network as possible, there are lots of devices at home that are equipped with WiFi receiver or transmitter.

The examples of these devices are routers, mobile devices, desktop computers, laptops, smart TVs, game consoles, tablets, smartwatches, smart home appliances, home security systems, and so on.

In the future, there will be more and more devices that are made with the WiFi connectivity built in to provide the best functionality for the users. When these devices are connected to the internet at all times, our life can be improved for the better due to the convenience that it can bring to our life. With these devices connected at the same time, we can control our devices from anywhere, and life will be easier for us to live by.

Martin Martens

I have graduated electronics and information systems at Ghent University. I like to learn new things in the field of technology and apply it in our household. I'm also a passionate traveler. Read more...